The very first time I attempted National Novel Writing Month, affectionately known to the writing world as “NaNoWriMo,” was in November of 2009. I can still remember trying to organize my outline during the last week of October, my nerves buzzing with anticipation at participating in such a legendary writing experience. Ever since I read of founder Chris Baty et al. undertaking the gargantuan task of writing 50,000-word novels in a single month, I knew I would have to try it, if only to see if I could do it.
Since that first NaNoWriMo, I have participated in nine more events, and of those nine times, I “won” five of them, meaning that I made it to the finish line of 50,000 words or more by the end of the month. Each time, though, regardless of whether I finished or not, I created words that would eventually become something I could be proud of, even if that meant I had to
